Bicycle Club Celebrates the Gift of New Bike Lanes in Modesto

Stanislaus County Bicycle Club members gather before its “ride the gift of bike lanes.” Photo: Minerva Perez

Cyclists from throughout Stanislaus County came together recently to celebrate a special gift from the city of Modesto—new bicycle lanes that will make it easier and safer to traverse the city on two wheels.

Approximately 25 members of the Stanislaus County Bicycle Club gathered on Saturday December 5th at Modesto Junior College, where the most visible part of the recent bicycling improvements have been made, for a celebratory ride.

“I rode 35 miles the other day,” said Susan Dion, the bike club’s president. “It’s really incredible what we have now.”

The bike ride started on College Avenue, where the city has implemented a road diet, and continued down 9th Street’s new curb-protected, two-way bike lane connecting the two campuses of Modesto Junior College. The group returned via the new Briggsmore Avenue bicycle lanes. Those with extra energy to burn on the cold morning continued on to the 35-mile route Dion had scouted the day before.

Riders enter the new parking-protected bike lane along College Ave. Photo: Michael Sacuskie

Modesto was fairly well-connected before the new lanes were added, according to Michael Sacuskie, who, along with his colleague Philip Soares, rode with the group on Saturday. Both are engineers in Modesto’s Transportation Engineering and Design department and helped bring this project to fruition. In the past few years, said Sacuskie, the city’s been going beyond “what I like to call ‘checking the box,’ and really making thoughtful projects.”

Typically, Sacuskie said, the department tries to follow the existing non-motorized transportation plan, but the new direction has been: “any time we can accommodate a bike lane, let’s try to.” This was the case with College Avenue, which didn’t initially call for the buffered bicycle lanes it now has. They were nonetheless added to a repaving project.

Stanislaus County Bicycle Club members ride the curb-protected, two-way bike lane that connects the two campuses of Modesto Junior College. Photo: Minerva Perez

The improvements have brought a few phone calls from residents who don’t understand why the city is putting so much effort into bicycling infrastructure. But, said Sacuskie, he was surprised there weren’t more. In Modesto, people are mainly supportive of the new bicycle-friendly direction.

“It’s public support that is going to keep things moving,” Sacuskie said. The next project he’s working on is connecting the Virginia Corridor, a 4.2 mile trail, to the new 9th Street cycle track.

Even though the crowd that went on the celebratory ride was made up of mainly of people who are already bicycling enthusiasts, club member Karen Shoup said she plans to invite the commuter students who take classes at both campuses of Modesto Junior College to a group ride on the new bicycle lanes.

“I heard that it is faster taking the bike lanes than it is driving,” she said.

Susan Dion, president of the Stanislaus County Bicycle Club, leads the “ride the gift of bike lanes” in Modesto. Photo: Minerva Perez

Dion, who bicycles to work in West Modesto, said the increased connectivity has given her something she didn’t have before.

“Now that there are so many bike lanes, I get to choose which [route to take].”

Great article, and a someone who bikes to work 3 days a week in Modesto, I could hardly believe more. On another note I would like to use some of your pictures on another website. Can you get in touch with me about permission to use them?

Gezellig

Nice work–Modesto has been doing some cool stuff!

Interesting contrast to Turlock–the 2nd biggest city in the same county and one with a large university (Cal State Stanislaus)–which even in its upcoming Active Transportation Plan is mostly continuing to just “check the boxes.”

This is why we really need to change state law to *require* complete streets–and great ones designed to data-driven best practices for walking and biking.

CalBike is actually doing great work to help make this happen:

California needs a real #CompleteStreets policy, one that mandates protected biking and walking improvements when state funds are used to repave roads or repair bridges. We are thankful to Senator Jim Beall for including sensible complete streets provisions in SBX 1-1 in the special session that mandate the inclusion of “new bicycle and pedestrian safety, access, and mobility improvements” in every project funded by the state. It calls for sidewalks and protected bike lanes or bike paths in transit-dense areas on most roads with a speed limit over 25 miles per hour. We need these Complete Streets policies in any transportation deal that’s made in Sacramento.

New photos added! Yes, it should be every day, but it’s still fun to get out and cheer on or be cheered on in recognition of the general awesomeness of riding a bike. Also, Bike to Work Day/Week/Month is a great way to get people to try riding. People don’t want to be left out […]

The California central valley town of Modesto is not usually high on anyone’s list of cities embracing cutting-edge pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. But that may change soon. Modesto is one of the oldest cities in California, but like other central valley towns, it grew to accommodate car travel, with wide, fast streets, plenty of parking, […]

City engineer Michael Sacuskie took these photos of the construction on the new buffered bike lanes and road diet in Modesto, and as you can see people are already using them, even though they won’t be finished for another month or so. The project includes a road diet on College Avenue and buffered bike lanes […]

One thing everyone seems to agree on: California’s transportation system needs fixing. On exactly what to fix and how to get money to do so, however, it is not so easy to find common ground. The latest proposal from the state legislature is hanging in the balance, and there may or may not be a […]

Modesto Junior College is joining a growing list of institutions that are partnering with transit to ease the financial burden of getting an education. As of July 1, all students can ride city and county transit systems for free.